When is Lethal Force Necessary For Self Defense

“Attempted carjacking in Detroit ends in death of suspect”

This story from August 9^th 2011 struck me as a great learning situation for many people. In the story a man had his car stolen at a gas station. As the suspect drove off with his car the man who had a concealed carry license drew his weapon and fired several shots.

He shot the man at least one time. The suspect then drove the car into a tree. It was not clear if the man died before or after he hit the tree.

This is not a cut and dry incidence of self defense. That is why the carjacking victim is still being held in custody.

Problems with Use of Lethal Force for Self Defense:

The problem is, in most states you are only allowed to use the amount of force necessary to end a threat to your life. You are not allowed to use lethal force if you have no reason to believe your life or the life of a loved one is in danger.

Don’t get me wrong I am not criticizing the man in the story. I wasn’t there and only know about the case from a short article from a Detroit news agency. But this man clearly had several options.

First of all there was no one else in the car that was being stolen, nobody was being abducted. It seems as though the only thing in danger was the man’s car. Now some will argue that a man should be able to use lethal force to protect his property…but…that is not the world we live in.

We live in a society where we are required to follow laws which restrict our use of lethal force to very stringent rules (whether you or I like it or not is beside the point).

So what is in store for the man in the story who used lethal force?

First of all the car which he was trying to protect now has several bullet holes, and was crashed into a tree. The car may be totaled but at the very least he is going to have to pay a pretty penny or two to get it fixed. So his primary goal was a loss.

Next, he will likely be charged with murder or at least manslaughter by the state and sued by the carjacker’s family. This will end up costing him thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, and months of his life wasted in court battling to clear his name. In the end the state may end up giving him a couple years for involuntary manslaughter (If he can buy a good lawyer maybe he will get off). And the carjackers family will most likely win their law suit and the man will be paying them off with every penny he has.

It is important to know what you are willing to use self defense skills or lethal force for. This is even more important when you carry a gun. What are you willing to use your gun to protect?

If you use lethal self defense or a firearm for anything other than protecting your own life or that of someone else you will likely pay a hefty price for that action (regardless of whether or not you feel justified).

The lesson here is that you have to know ahead of time when you will and will not use lethal force or any self defense for that matter. I call this setting your personal triggers.

Setting Your Self Defense Triggers:

It is a process where you literally list out all the instances where you may think of using self defense or lethal force. You then list out all the possible consequences of that action and see if it is worth it.

This will keep you from making a foolish mistake in the heat of the moment, because let’s face it…we are all subject to our emotions and the adrenaline charge that happens when a crime is being committed against us or somebody near us.

We have an obligation, however, as people who know how to use lethal self defense tactics to choose very carefully when we will and will not use force. This will not only keep you safer, but it will make you even more confident in your self defense skills and keep you out of nasty legal trouble.